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May 25, 2014

In the future, mutants were hunted, to be killed or captured, by an advanced weapon, The Sentinels. A group of mutants were able to survive by manipulating a mind transfer ability where they could transfer a person's present consciousness to his/her past self to warn him/herself of future attacks. They use this ability, to transfer Wolverine's consciousness to the past so he could stop the crisis before it even happened.

I'm pretty excited about Days of Future Past because First Class was really good. I expected that this latest installment to be better than the previous one. Furthermore, I'm a fan of Sentinels. Yes, I love the Sentinels! I think that they're worthy opponents to the X-Men. I wanted so much to see them in action since the first X-Men movie.

First of all, I wanna highlight that Fan Bingbing is so beautiful.

Okey, let me get serious and talk about the acting aspect. Every cast member did what they're supposed to do and they did great. The focus is on Hugh Jackman as he got most of the screen time. As usual, he delivered an awesome performance as Wolverine. James McAvoy (younger Prof. X) and Micheal Fassbender (younger Magneto) delivered splendid performances. Even the supporting characters were good.

Though I had a problem recognizing new characters in the future scenes. I'm not much of an X-Men comix fan even though I read the comix sometimes. I recognized Bishop but I was not pretty sure what he could really do.

Next, action. Man, the action scenes were superb. My favorite scene would be the part when I got to see the full extent of Quicksilver's powers. The part when they tried to free Erik from spoiler spoiler spoiler because he spoiler spoiler spoilerrrrrrr. I also love the Sentinels scenes. Not the future Sentinels. But the first models of Sentinels. They look badass with those heavy fire artillery!

The pacing is just nice. The movie is 2 hours ++ long and I didn't feel bored at all from the start to finish. It's because there are so many elements in one movie. Humor, suspense, drama, action. They're all nicely blended together to form an ultimate satisfying meal. Damn, I feel hungry now. Literally hungry.

Script is well written. Story is interesting. Damn it, this is a very good movie. Better or at the par with First Class. So, if you like First Class, I'm sure you jizz in your pants especially at the credit scenes. GO WATCH NOW! NO NEED TO READ ANYMORE.

Yes, the credit scene. Non comic readers might be wondering, who the hell is that pale white guy arranging pyramids like playing toy blocks? Luckily, I read X-Men comic enough to be excited about that guy. That's Apocalypse. The first mutant. Go Google that guy. That credit scene was set at ancient Egypt.

That credit scene is saying, APOCALYPSE WILL BE THE VILLAIN IN THE NEXT X-MEN.

X-Men: Apocalypse. Hehe, I can't wait! By the way, the outcome of this movie has brought back certain characters to life. I would love to see the original gang teaming up together in the next movie. I'm talking about Cyclops, Jean, Storm, Gambit, Rogue, Beast, Wolverine & etc. Where the hell is Gambit anyway? He's my favorite X-Men.

Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) was on the verge of finding the truth about really what happened to a nuclear factory in Japan where he worked years ago. His son, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), though reluctant at first, helped him. What they found out was a top secret military project involving monstrous things.

I'm pretty excited to watch this movie because I love monster-disaster movies such as Pacific Rim & Cloverfield. What I truly expected from this movie were huge destruction & monstrous brawls.

Now, if you're a fan of the Japanese Godzilla (Gojira) movies, I think that you most probably won't like this Hollywood version. One thing you must bare in mind is that Japanese movies are full of spectacles & a bit ridiculous (just check out the advertisements & TV shows) while Hollywood ones nowadays are campy & sort of more realistic. So, don't ever try to compare this movie with the Japanese Gojira. Instead, compare it with the 1998 Hollywood version.

I assure you, 2014 Godzilla is far better than the 1998 Godzilla.

Okey, first I wanna talk about visual effects & monster design. For me, the effects are stunning. They're beautiful on screen. I gasped every time the monsters appear. They look monstrously real. I think I use the word 'monstrous' too often. Props to the people who designed the MUTOs. Man, those MUTOs look so damn creepy because they're like naked dark humans with extra limbs crawling. No offense to dark colored skin people who like to crawl around naked. Though that's really pretty creepy. Godzilla on the other hand, look obese. SO FAT!

I love how they scale up all the monsters. I could really see how big they were compared to the buildings. They're monstrous!

The monster clashes are pretty satisfying. Especially the big finish at the end. Godzilla was like RAAAAGHHHHHHHH (EAT THIS!) while the MUTO went OOGOGOGOGOOOO wekk.

Next, story aspect. Hmm... Just like other B-rated movies, Godzilla tend to have weak story line. Everything is coincidental. Hey, we need to nuke all monsters. Owh, coincidentally, our main character is a military bomb expert! Hey, those monsters are heading to Manhattan. Owh, coincidentally, main characters' family is there! Hmm... Okey, I take it back. The story is not weak. It's just not mind-blowing. Not revolutionary. Not pretty thought of. So so. In Malay, "Boleh la..."

I wish they did less teasing and reveal the monsters earlier. It was like, Hey, MUTO! COME FIGHT ME! and MUTO said NO! LETS SAVE IT FOR THE ENDING! LOLZ! They did a lot teasing in the trailers and they did a lot more teasing in the movie. It's like the audience don't know it's Godzilla.

In terms of acting, the supporting characters shine brighter than the leads. Aaron Taylor-Johnson & Elizabeth Olsen did not show true acting potential. There are attempts from them to create emotionally scenes but I just didn't feel & believe it. Bryan Cranston on the other hand is Walter freakin White! Ken Watanabe also did great. "LET THEM FIGHT!"

All in all, the visual effects are great, story is not that great, less monster fight but the end fight is epic, Bryan Cranston & Ken Watanabe's acting is better than the leads. Pass for a good popcorn movie.

May 6, 2014

Yeah yeah yeah, I know. The toilet is a shitty place... literally & figuratively. But it's also a place of solitude for introvert me. I'm not sure whether other fellow introverts feel the same but I think we all have that one quiet lonely place to hide.

Sometimes when socializing is too much of a burden for me, I hide in a toilet cubicle.

I started hiding in toilets when I started my teaching practicum a few years ago. I just couldn't stand being in the teacher's room because all of the senior teachers looked at me condescendingly... or maybe it was just me. There was no other place for me to be in order to escape those people, therefore I hid myself in a toilet. Since then, I keep hiding and hiding in toilets. Sometimes I hide for more than an hour.

When hiding, I will sleep if I can, play games on my phone, read eBooks. I think I finished a quarter of A Storm of Swords in a toilet.

It's pathetic, I know. I'm not proud of it but it's a place where nobody will interact and bug me.

Definitely, I don't just choose any toilet. I hide only in clean ones. I can't stand foul smells.

The social anxiety that I have in me is pretty hard to explain. Meeting a person whom I'm not close with gives me an adrenaline rush. Having small talks with strangers is so stressful. Having to respond to remarks and sentences tenses me up.

Of course, the toilet is not the only place I hide. The toilet is like the last place I would go to avoid people. I also feel comfortable being in my car. My places of solitude are the places that I know people won't breach into.

Being an introvert sucks.

When it's lunch time at work, instead of contemplating on what to eat, I think hard on where to eat. I always choose restaurants with the most strangers. I often eat alone. Going to a restaurant where there are many people I barely know would 'force' me to join their table because I don't want to be considered as rude or 'kera sumbang'. Joining their table would mean I have to join in with their conversation and that could be stressful for me.

Sometimes, when I got to a restaurant, I turn back because I see people I know inside. I turn back and go to other restaurants or just go back to the office and starve myself. Yeah, I prefer being starved than socializing with people.

Bare in mind that I only don't like to interact with people I barely know. If it's a person I like or I'm used to, then there'll be no problem. But the problem is, in order to get close to a person, you have to befriend him/her when he/she is still a stranger. You can't automatically be close to someone. Have to interact and spend some time together.

Shamefully, I have to admit that even after almost three years working at my current workplace now, I still don't have a person who I can call a friend. I only have colleagues here.

Most of my colleagues are nice to me but when it's lunch time, I don't have anyone that I can say, "Hey, jom makan."

It's easier for me to make friends when I was in school and university because I would be interacting with peers of the same interests and level of maturity. My friends then were scarce but I still had friends. However, now, at this workplace, I'm still searching for a buddy.

I blame myself for that. Too many excuses... too little effort. Socializing is fuckin' scary! I also blame the age factor. At my office, I'm the youngest. While I prefer to talk about comic books and movies, other colleagues talk about politics, lucah lucah, sons, daughters, parenting wargh wargh.

I could go to other departments to look for friends. I know there are young ones at other departments. But just thinking about entering a building full of strangers just to get to one person fill my stomach with various insects. Wargh warghh

May 4, 2014

Feeling responsible on the death of Gwen Stacy's father, Peter Parker a.k.a Spidey (Andrew Garfield) was reluctant to really commit in being in love with Gwen (Emma Stone) and being a superhero at the same time. This resulted in a complicated love conflict between him & Gwen. Making it difficult for him was the appearance of a powerful enemy, Max Dillon a.k.a Electro (Jamie Foxx) & the return of his childhood best friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) who later transformed himself into Green Goblin.

I have to say that I was pretty excited to see this movie since the success of the first one. Making me more excited was the grand promotion. Sneak peeks, trailers, geeky news... you name it. Every update made me say, "Dammit, enough teasing and show me the whole movie already!"

Okey, so, what's my verdict on this one? Lets see...

The thing that I love the most about this movie is the chemistry between Andrew Garfield & Emma Stone. I just couldn't stop smiling every time the couple were together on screen. They're just freakin' adorable. It's like the movie should be renamed: Peter Parker's Sweet Love Story. They're so awesome in portraying their characters.

EMMMAAAAAAA *drool*

As Harry Osborn, Dane DeHaan did a good job. But as Green Goblin, hmm... meh. Dane could be a bit over the top in times. The same thing can be said about Jamie Foxx's performance. As Max Dillon, he's kinda amusing. However, when he's Electro, the good acting vibe disappeared a bit. Probably because of the heavy visual effects on his whole body.

Story wise, this movie is pretty much predictable & quite messy. I think that they tried to put too much into it. The first movie was really good because it's simple and yet awesomely developed. Whereas, in this one, they tried to cramp in three stories together; origin of Electro, origin of Green Goblin & Spidey's love life. There's no focus.

A big plus for the humorous and annoying Spidey talks during battles. Just like in the comic books.

I love the action scenes when there's not much of CGI effects which are scarce. Most action scenes are computer generated. I love CGI, but too much of it can result in the lack of excitement of action. Though I can say that the CGI effects look flawless & beautiful.

I think comic book fans jizzed in their pants because there are scenes hinting on Sinister Six spin-off.

In conclusion, I love the love story between Peter & Gwen mostly because Andrew & Emma are awesome, I dislike the messy & predictable story line, there should be less CGI in action scenes. Enjoyable nonetheless.